DPH COVID-19 content dashboard and “Trail Map”

Overview

This document outlines the metrics found in the DPH Covid-19 content dashboard, the context for each metric, and why these metrics matter to the intended audience consuming the dashboard. This document serves as a history of the changes made, and describes the "trail map" of potential future enhancements and fixes.

Stakeholders and Dashboard Audience

This dashboard is intended for DPH content managers who need to see traffic for content on Mass.gov. The pages it focuses on are this Department of Public Health binder and all of its child pages. .

Metrics and Context

Below, we outline each page of the dashboard, including the metrics you’ll find on it and the context for why those metrics matter to the dashboard’s audience. The dashboard focused on a binder of content that DPH released in response to a desire for COVID-19-related public health updates. For a while, the binder itself was the primary landing page for people looking for COVID-19 info, and this dashboard was one of several tools DPH was using to monitor content usage and interest in different subject areas.

Total pageviews & clicks/download (page 1)

Daily cumulative total traffic to Mass.gov line chart

This chart shows the total number of monthly pageviews (y-axis) as well as the total number of “visitors” to DPH Covid-19 content on Mass.gov. The “visitors” metrics is actually unique pageviews, and therefore only approximates how many actual visitors came to the page.

Traffic by page table

This table shows the total number of pageviews as well as the total number of visitors (unique pageviews) to the DPH binder and its child pages on Mass.gov for whatever time range the date filter has been set to. Note: The filter on this table does not clean up URLs with query strings (e.g. ?fbclid=32rveidjg), which results in many additional records beyond the 11 target pages.

Alert clicks

This is the total number of times visitors clicked a link in an alert on the binder or one of its child pages.

Downloads

This is thee total number of times visitors downloaded a document on the binder or one of its child pages.

Context for the metrics on page 1

These charts provide basic data about how people are interacting with the binder and its child pages. DPH content managers and the Mass.gov team can use this information to better understand the size of the audience to these pages, as well as how often they download content. Downloading is a particularly important action because at the time of writing, case numbers are updated via new PDFs being added to Mass.gov.

Audience and Navigation (page 2)

Previous page by number of pageviews table

This chart lists previous pages sorted by total number of pageviews from most to least. The “page” dimension is filtered to the binder and its child pages, but the previous page can be anything, including an entrance.

Traffic sources by number of visitors table

This chart shows the top referral sources to the binder and its child pages, sorted by total number of visitors from most to least.

Context for the metrics on page 2

These tables focus on how people get to the target pages. This can help DPH understand where its audience comes from, and perhaps to then optimize their content for search engines.

Downloads by file (page 3)

Download by file table

This chart shows the top downloads across the binder and its child pages ordered by total number of downloads.

Context for the metrics on page 3

This chart breaks out total downloads by file so that DPH can know which files are most important for its audience.

Trail Map

No trail map at this time.